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Real Property • Landlord-Tenant
PROP#086
Legal Definition
Landlords are prohibited from performing retaliatory evictions, which occur when a landlord terminates a lease or penalizes a tenant for exercising his rights. There is often a presumption of retaliatory eviction if the landlord acts within 90 or 180 days.
Plain English Explanation
Landlords are obligated to follow various laws and codes in maintaining the property they rent to tenants. If a tenant reports a landlord for violating one of these rules, a landlord is not allowed to evict the tenant out of revenge or spite. Generally speaking, if an eviction occurs within 90 to 180 days of a tenant reporting an landlord, then it is presumed that the eviction is retaliatory, even if it was not, which forces a burden on the landlord to prove the eviction is not retaliatory.
Hypothetical
Hypo 1: Amy rents an apartment from Bob and signs a 6 month lease. After 2 months, Amy stops paying rent. She becomes a horrible tenant. Bob tries to give her another chance, but she harasses other tenants and causes problems. Bob plans on evicting her at the end of the week on Friday. On Thursday, Amy notifies the local housing authority that she has experienced rodents in her apartment. On Friday, Bob begins eviction proceeding. Result: Here, Amy is a horrible tenant who deserves to be evicted. However, due to the circumstances, there is a presumption that Bob is evicting her in retaliation for reporting the rodent problem. Thus, Bob will have to bring sufficient evidence to prove his eviction is not motivated by Amy exercising her right to report rodents.
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